Chatty Cathy...I mean Cooper!

So Cooper is single handedly the CHATTIEST baby we have had thus far. Don't get me wrong, we have some very chatty preschoolers, but Cooper takes the cake for the earliest talker. She is now 22 months, and makes full, sometimes complex sentences. When you ask her things like, "Guess what?" she says things like, "What Mommy?" Yesterday, when she was caught NOT napping, when I asked her why, she said, "Cause Mommy, I so cold Mommy!" It's really quite comical. She walked into the kitchen tonight and said, "Dinner ready Mommy?" When she is in the back seat of the car she will say, "Can't hear it, turn it up!"

All of our kids are really chatty, and they didn't start out this way, so I can only imagine, what is in store for us when Cooper gets to be 3 or 4, YIKES!!!!

Winter break weekend!!!

This weekend, we took a trip to an indoor water park for a little break! The kids had a BLAST!!! It was actually the perfect water park for our family, not too big, and plenty of stuff for little kids. There was a pool with a slide that only had about 8 inches of water in it. Cooper really got a hang of going up and then down, she could do it all by herself. Olivia loved hanging in that pool as well, it was by far the warmest pool, and Olivia is not much of a "thrill seeker!" Annabelle and Carter on the other hand, loved EVERYTHING, the lazy river, the giant bucket that dumps water on the whole park, the bigger slides, and the tube slide that they went down with Jason. It was one of the dark, enclosed twisty slides, and they both loved it!!!!

Also, they had a special area, that had a cardboard box "fort." What a great idea, what more do kids need then a fort/maze made out of giant boxes. They played in this room, for hours!!! And, it was age appropriate for all of them, and enclosed, so we didn't have to worry about any escapes. They loved going out for breakfast in the morning, and eating dinner from a buffet at dinner. They had never had soft serve ice cream out of a machine and thought that was awesome. It's amazing what little it really takes to impress them! They slept REALLY well, even Cooper who had to sleep in a pack-n-play did really well. Carter got to sleep on the top bunk and didn't even fall off!!!


All in all, it was a great weekend!!! There really wasn't one bad thing about it, not one meltdown, not even from Cooper who managed to do it all without a nap each day, what a trooper (she did manage to take a power nap at the park on my lap!) We all had a wonderful time!

What a great day!

Today it was 62 degrees here! I packed up all the kids, and we headed to our favorite park! They were so excited, that you would have thought that they had never been to a park before. It had been a while, and Cooper really has the hang of things now that she is older, she was climbing, sliding, and running around like a big kid. And I have to commend all of the big kids, they really listen and get it, that if they aren't good, and cooperate, we are outta there! But, none of that was necessary, they just played and had a great time, as did I!!! And, of course, they all were excited that it was "Spring" so I broke it to them gently on the way home that it isn't going to stay this warm, and spring is still down the road a bit. At least we were able to enjoy today, it was really great!!!

Times, they are a changing!!!!

I have to make mention of the HUGE developmental strides the older kids have made lately. The twins who are now 4, and Carter who will be 5 next month (I can't believe Carter will be in kindergarten) have changed so much!!! Our lives have suddenly become SO much easier in many ways. We now have 75% of the kids dressing themselves, we no longer have to worry about "potty" emergencies, and our "internal" play group is now thriving!

They play incredibly well together, and fighting is very rare (I attribute this to the fact that in their minds, they are all on an even playing field, with of course the exception of Cooper.) We've been taking all 4 out to dinner, and everyone is pretty well-behaved and uses their manners. We aren't of course, taking them to any 5 star restaurants, but they do very well in a sit-down place. There was a time, where none of this was possible, with the older 3 being so close in age, and a baby in tow, it wasn't even something we attempted (we try not to set ourselves up for failure.) But now, our freedom allows us to do more with the entire family. And to be honest, even with the addition of baby number 5, I don't ever see us back in the position we were in when the 3 big kids were younger. They listen now, they help with Cooper, and they are all pretty mild mannered (no more worries about tantrums and such!)

It really has opened up a whole new world for us! We are enjoying our weekend outings, and we look forward to the weather warming up so we can do even more things!!! This weekend is our water park adventure, next month our beach trip, and then on to summer fun, we can't wait!!!!

Carter and his little sis

Carter and Cooper have a bit of a "special" relationship. Maybe it's because of the age difference, or maybe it's because the twins are so close, but Carter has ALWAYS loved his baby sister. In her lifetime, I can count on one hand the times he's been mean or short with her. In fact, he tolerates most everything she does, as if he truly understands that she is 3 years younger. He's been quoted as saying (when he's mad), "Cooper, you are going to make me count to 10!" Carter really doesn't have much of a temper at all, so he doesn't get mad very easily (emotional, yes, angry, no.)

Here are some pics of them having some fun, and of Coopy in the bath!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

Here is our little groundhog Cooper!

Lunch, birthday parties, and other "stuff!"

We have finally figured it out! To avoid the horrid winter, we must PLAN things! Last week it was Disney on Ice, and then a birthday party, this weekend it was lunch with friends at Bar Louie, yet another birthday party, and a Super Bowl party with more friends. Now, I am a FIRM believer in not "over scheduling," but there is a fine line between that, and being so bored we are all ready to cry. So, since no one has really been sick this winter (knock on wood PLEASE) we've been able to do some little things to keep ourselves busy. The "over scheduling" just leads to tired, very cranky, kids who just want to "chill" in their own house. Especially since they go to school 5 days a week. They just need down time in their own house. But alas, that also leads to "cabin fever" especially since we can't go outside!

So, we are trying to do our best to avoid the pitfalls of doing too much and the boredom of doing too little! Fine line.

We will see! We have a weekend trip to an indoor water park in 2 weeks, so that should really be fun, and of course a much needed trip to South Carolina in March, we are doing are best to find at least SOMETHING to do one day during the weekends until it warms up (which you know doesn't happen until April!!!!) Wish us luck!!! :)